Documentation

The Cardog API puts VIN identity, canonical specs, Canadian-market listings, live market data, and recalls behind one key. Every parameter is an entity ref or a VIN; every response links to its neighbours; every error tells you what to do next.

Reading this as an agent? Every page has a markdown twin — append .md to any docs URL or send Accept: text/markdown. The whole platform is one fetch: curl https://cardog.app/docs.md

Your first call

curl "https://api.cardog.app/v2/listings/search?make=make:tesla&limit=3" \
  -H "x-api-key: $CARDOG_API_KEY"

Guides

Quickstart

Your first three calls: resolve free text to refs, then query with them.

The Vehicle Graph

The data model behind every endpoint: typed entities, permanent refs, and the grains that connect a VIN to specs, recalls, and the live market.

The ref grammar

Hold the platform's identifier language offline: @cardog/entities validates, builds, and types refs with zero API calls — resolution is where the API begins.

Authentication

API keys, both accepted headers, and the plan limits — straight from the code.

API conventions

The mechanics every v2 group shares: encoding, response shape, null semantics, and the stability contract.

Credits & limits

One commercial currency across the platform: per-family rates, plan allowances, live budget headers, and what happens at the edge.

Errors

The v2 error envelope and a complete correction recipe for every well-known code.

Decode a Canadian VIN by API

One VIN in, one identity card out — entity refs, VIN grains, and links, for 99.77% of Canadian VINs.

Understanding VINs

VIN structure and standards — what the 17 characters mean.

Market data

Instruments, quotes, and the tape: how live listings become a priced, historied market grammar.

Transport Canada recall lookup by VIN, by API

Per-VIN recall checks with citable authority — Transport Canada + NHTSA fused — and entity-scoped sweeps for fleets.

The Cardog MCP server: vehicle data as five tools

npm install @cardog/api

pip

pip install cardog

import { CardogClient } from "@cardog/api";

const client = new CardogClient({ apiKey: process.env.CARDOG_API_KEY });

const resolved = await client.v2.entities.resolve("2021 civic");
console.log(resolved.best);

The identifier language itself is also on npm — @cardog/entities validates, builds, and types refs with zero API calls (see The ref grammar):

npm

npm install @cardog/entities

VIN decoding, offline

The decoder behind /v2/vin also ships as an open-source package — full decode in-process, no network, Node / browsers / Workers.

cardog-ai/corgi

A TypeScript library for decoding and validating Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) using a customized VPIC database.

automotivecloudflare-workersofflineoffline-first+3

TypeScript32731ISC3mo ago

npm

npm install @cardog/corgi

For agents

Every docs page has a markdown twin — append .md to any docs URL, or send Accept: text/markdown. The whole platform is one fetch:

curl https://cardog.app/docs.md